Friday Fashion Lesson: Stella McCartney

We’re here again with another Friday Fashion Lesson. One today’s agenda we’re going to learn all about Stella McCartney!

 

 

British designer Stella Nina McCartney was born in September 1971 in London, England. If her last name sounds familiar, it’s because it is! Yes, her father is a member of the iconic all-male rock group “The Beatles” and her mother was an animal rights activist and photography.

 

 

During her senior show at London's Central St. Martins College of Art & Design, she recruited her supermodel frineds Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss to model a collection of her clothes. The entire collection was purchased by London boutique Tokio and also stocked in Browns, Joseph, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. Soon, she earned the head designer spot at the fashion house Chloe, succeeding Karl Lagerfeld in the role.

 

Very soon after that, Stella landed a joint venture with Gucci Group, which agree to let the young designer have her own label, developed as a global luxury brand, which debuted at Paris Fashion Week in October of 2001.

 

In addition to having super models run walk in her first huge show, she also has many other celebrity friends who have donned her clothing. She designed a wedding dress for none other than Madonna, outfitted Kate Hudson in the 2001 Academy Awards, and created the reception dress for Meghan Markle during the royal wedding to Prince Harry.

 

Taking after her mother, Stella has been a vegetarian her entire life. Taken from her website, “We are a vegetarian company and none of our products contain leather, fur, exotics skins or feathers – and none of the glues used in our shoes or bags come from animal origins.” Her shoes are made of vinyl or plastic and all belts and bags are made from raffia and fabric. Starting at Gucci, this was extremely controversial considering the brand usually produced many items per season that used both of these animal products. Stella was strong in her beliefs though & successfully started what’s allegedly one of the first sustainable fashion brands, changing the industry for good.

 

Stella was appointed Team Great Britain’s Creative Director for the 2012 London Summer Games by adidas which was the first time in the history of the games that a leading fashion designer has designed the apparel for a country’s team across all Olympic competitions. She was invited to do the same for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

 

The Olympics began a long term partnership with Adidas, still putting out designs in athletic wear and clothing today. She’s also collaborated with the beloved H&M as well created an entire line for Gap Kids.

  

Stella McCartney operates 23 freestanding stores in locations including and Milan. She has two boys and two girls from her publisher husband Alasdhair Willis: Miller, Bailey, Reiley and Beckett.

  

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This article was written by Alexandria Nevarez on November 6, 2020.